The invention relates to a method for monitoring airspace, in particular to a method for identifying and locating aircraft in order to prevent collisions between aircraft.
Different systems are known for preventing collisions between manned aircraft. Known systems of this kind generally provide an on-board electronics system, comprising a computer having a screen, a data communications device, a FLARM (FLight alARM) and/or ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) receiver, a transponder, a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) device and an electronic control unit for processing data, in the respective aircraft. An aircraft receives the flight data of another aircraft via this on-board electronics system. The data which is received by the on-board electronics system is processed and graphically displayed to the pilot on the screen of the computer. In this way, the pilot can decide which measures should be initiated in order to prevent a collision with the other aircraft. However, data interchange of this kind requires both aircraft to have the same communications technology, so that the respectively sent and received flight data can also be read and processed.
Furthermore, DE 10 2007 032 084 A1 discloses a collision and conflict prevention system for autonomous unmanned aircraft (UAV—Unmanned Aerial Vehicle), in which the system uses available on-board sensors in order to create an image of the surrounding airspace. In this way, the airspace is surveyed for potential conflicts and, if a problem is encountered, a search for possible avoidance measures is started, wherein the avoidance routes correspond, as far as possible, to the prescribed rules of the air.
The known conflict prevention systems are accordingly arranged in the respective aircraft as on-board electronics systems. An on-board electronics system of this kind comprising a conflict prevention system may be too heavy for relatively small and/or lightweight manned or unmanned aircraft on account of the weight. A further problem is that not all aircraft have standardized communications technology and a transmitter for sending data and a receiver for receiving data. Aircraft comprising different communication and location systems therefore have the problem that they may not be able to recognize or identify all aircraft.